This is my first blog post for mediaenterprise.co.uk and I thought I would start with my recollections from the MA Media and Creative Enterprise so far.

At the beginning of the course I was also taking part in Insight Out: Managing  a Portfolio Career, which was fantastic and I feel it has prepared me well for the rest of the MA.

I found a lot of crossover between the Enterprise module and Insight Out, which was helpful because it enabled me to really take in what I have learnt.  However, the module I have found most intriguing (and most perplexing at times!) has been Creative Industries and Cultural Policy.

The ‘hot topic’ at the moment seems to be the role of the creative industries in the UK’s economy, and whether the sector can pull us out of recession (and for some people the creative industries also encompasses digital and IT).  Several events have taken place during my short time on the MA including Digital District, Hello Digital, the Big Debate and the national Cabinet Forum.

All of them were concerned with the future; how improving Birmingham’s broadband infrastructure could have long-term benefits for SMEs and the economy (Digital District), how the digital industries can pull the UK out of recession (Hello Digital), how Birmingham’s creative industries should band together to try and achieve the same (Big Debate) and so on.

Has there been enough discussion?

Despite those three events dealing with slightly different themes, all pointed towards the creative industries and how they can move forward in Birmingham.  Though I found them all interesting and relevant, maybe now it is time for the discussions to stop and action to begin, especially from policy makers.

The biggest event of them all was the Cabinet Forum, simply due to the amount of hugely influential creative workers and policy makers in attendance.  One major subject of debate was copyright, which is of particular interest to me due to my involvement in magazine publishing and I will be studying it for my first assignment.  Some delegates felt that the copyright debate is getting ‘old’ and the debate needs to move on, others felt that it was a hugely important part of the creative economy and problems with copyright protection in the digital age (such as illegal file sharing) need to be addressed.

As entrepreneurs, there is no doubt that copyright  (and intellectual property in general) plays a big part in what we do.  If our intellectual property is not protected, our product won’t be unique; it will be exploited and our ideas will not be our own.  One such incident happened to me recently when an article I used for my final year degree project was re-used several times by the FA and other companies without my permission (it was a digital magazine and my contact details were clearly visible on the website). I wouldn’t have minded but I wasn’t acknowledged for it. The (c) symbol doesn’t matter to people in the digital age.

On the other hand, people (creatives and consumers) are unwilling to pay for photographs and articles, but there is the compromise of Creative Commons, where authors can make their work available for free as long as they are acknowledged.

On that note, I am going to leave you with a very good talk by Dr Lawrence Lessig (who came up with the idea of  Creative Commons) about copyright and current policy.

Image (above) by eschpiul.

Seth Godin, Author of the Purple Cow, The Dip, Meatball Sundae and he’s latest book Tribes. Some points and thoughts from the article in ‘the marketer’ (12.08/01.09)
Godin describes how marketing has changed; it’s no longer thrusting marketing to the masses but being leaders of tribes. “The new marketing is leadership”.

There are two routes you could go if as a marketer you find yourself in a company your values don’t align too, either quit or lead a change of culture from within. Seth Godin states that organisations need people who are the later.
What struck me is that Godin says that conservative people do not follow tribes. People who do not join tribes do not want to improve life and want to keep everything the same, so they aren’t looking for a new product or service therefore not looking at your ads. Your audience are the ones who want change, who gather like tribes and connect with each other. Adding to this most people want to follow and to be lead by someone. The new leader according to Godin is the marketer.
‘What people are waiting for is someone to say, “here’s an idea or here’s a service or a product or a candidate that will take us somehere new, let’s go.”

He goes on to say that tribe building is easy, as long as your customer/member is delighted in what you do and not feeling ripped off, they will help build your tribe by recommendation. Spreading your ideas freely also attracts interest, membership and sales.
“Once you have it, a tribe makes money all by itself. If you go into it saying, ‘I want to make money from this’ you fail.“
Personally, what I’ve got from this, is that I want to create that kind of feeling in my business, becoming very tribal!!!! This is how I see the business culture at IE Design and the customer relationship and philosophy with keepandshare.co.uk.
Godin ends this article on advice to marketers with the recession in mind.
• That this is the biggest opportunity any of us will ever have.
• He believes that great companies and brands are built in this environment.
• To create real value and real change.
• And to hire amazing people who can’t get ordinary jobs because there aren’t any.
“This is what you’ve been waiting for and I hope you don’t miss it.”

I’m going to take this on, that he is right and see what I can create in the world!

See Seth Godin really cool blog! http://sethgodin.typepad.com
Look you, if you are a Seth Godin tribe member you can get a doll to!

Ollie Leggett is the director and founder of IE Design, based in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, West Midlands. IE Designs main focus and strengths are web, interactive media, design and brand identity. Currently IE Design employ 14 people and have a client list of mainly high value based companies with a concentration on education and charity based organisations.

Ollie displays characteristics of a cultural entrepreneur by having an individual, collaborative and holistic approach to work, motivated by solving problems and being a servant leader. He has learnt new skills in producing and managing creativity throughout his career, mainly project based work for clients and has managed risk by concentrating on a 20% profit margin dropping clients who do not produce that kind of margin. Ollie’s company is involved in the majority of time, in producing and distribution of his client’s commissions especially around web based projects. IE Design developed a management system for themselves which they then marketed as periscope, an online creative management system for creative enterprises becoming producer and consumer or rather in this case consumer-producer, a trait of a cultural entrepreneur. Ollie foresaw 7 years ago, that interactive and online services would be the way to go and so brought on board Oliver Westmancote, as a company director. Seeing and predicting market needs is a distinct trait of an entrepreneur. (Southam et al, 2005)

Ollie Leggett is a cultural entrepreneur because he inspires artistic leadership in those that work for him in small teams and understands the creative process so managing it effectively to create an economically viable, high culture and value based company that produces visual media in print, interactive or web based output. ‘Forming such a business is not only an economic but also a creative act, for it involves shaping a complex cultural web of identity, relationships, communication, language and technology.’ (Rae, 2007: 194) It could be said from the previous quote, that Ollie Leggett demonstrates this with his management and business leadership service to his customer and employees.

Hope you enjoyed and please comment:

Rai Jenkins

In preparation for the focus groups today I have been assessing the existing online services and networks for the students and alumni of the MA Media Enterprise course.

First of all, there is Moodle, the electronic learning resource. On this site students can find out all sorts of information about their course as tutors post lecture notes and presentations to supplement learning. This site is useful as a database of knowledge and module information but does not provide opportunities for networking.

Students and alumni of the course can also make use of the Yahoo Group set up for them. This gives them an easy way to communicate with the whole group with just one click. It’s great for asking questions about assignments as the issue at hand may be one that several people were concerned about; and asking everyone, rather than just asking the tutor, promotes discussion and a community feel. It is also a good way to let all the students know at once of any upcoming events or opportunities.

So we are provided with easy communication methods and a learning database, but it would seem that there is no online location to congregate, to share personal as well as professional information. Yes, many of us have Facebook or MySpace profiles, and temporary “groups” have been set up on here, but these sites are not for focusing on our professional development or the progression of the course.

Does this mean there is a gap in provision here? Is a student and alumni network something we need? This shall be discussed in the focus groups and I will let you know the outcomes in due course…

“Focus groups provide a unique and interactive way to gather information and share views on any number of subjects” says Focus Group UK.

This is the method with which I intend to obtain the students’ views on the alumni network idea. Its advantages are that it promotes discussion and gives a combination of opinions and angles on the selected topic. Its disadvantages are that the discussion may stray from the subject easily and that some participants may dominate the discussion more than others.

It is therefore my task as moderator to keep the discussion on track without being too imposing so as to let it flow freely.

So, the venue, refreshments and recording equipment are all in place, all I need now is the participants!

Calling all students and alumni of the MA Media Enterprise course, this is your chance to have your say! Do you want your own network to be like moodle or more like facebook?

If you don’t come along to one of the focus groups you never know how it might turn out…

Hello all,

I am embarking on a research project to investigate and explore ideas around the proposed idea of a web-based network for the students and alumni of the MA Media Enterprise course at BCU. It is of vital importance that I gain the views of past and present students for this, as it is to be a student-led network, so if you are either of those please do not hesitate to comment on this blog! Other views are of course welcome too.

Over the next few weeks I shall be keeping the students up to date on my progress with the project via this blog.

We are all aware of how huge social networking on the internet has become, so I’d initially like to ask, which features of social networking do you find most useful?

Laura Jackman.

You’ll find a new page on this website dedicated to conference materials from the recent (March 2008) Creative Enterprise conference at Birmingham City University.It includes a podcast with excerpts from most of the speakers. Be sure to check it out. 

This week I chaired a conference at Birmingham City University on Creative Enterprise.

It was largely aimed at educators but it did have a few students and some business support people amongst its delegates.  First thing to say is that a way more reflective and thoughtful digest of the conference is being put together by Charlotte Carey. Go read it. I thought it might be worth pulling together links to some of the participants as that doesn’t seem to have been done anywhere else.

Here goes:

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Introduction
When you think of the word entrepreneur what springs to mind? Do you envision in your mind a Donald Trump look-alike who is middle aged with an aggressive personality and an expensive suit? I did initially until I found that the word entrepreneur encompasses many varying traits and is not as stereotypical as I once assumed. This assignment aims to enlighten the reader with an academic perspective of what cultural entrepreneurship entails and how various traits and characteristics are found in different types of entrepreneurs.

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The creative industries are currently at the forefront of British government policy. With the sector contributing greatly to the economy, emphasis has been placed upon its regenerative capabilities (visit www.culture.gov.uk). The sector relies heavily upon small medium enterprises (SME’s) which are usually created, developed and managed by an emerging breed of cultural entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs are at the forefront of the sector and are setting a new standard for creative working.

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